Mountaineering Scotland 'shocked and saddened' by Inverness Leisure climbing wall closure plan
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A mountaineering organisation has joined a chorus of discontent about plans for closure of the climbing wall at Inverness Leisure.
Almost 2000 people have signed an online petition calling for High Life Highland (HLH) – which runs the facility – to reverse its decision.
Some people fear participation in the sport locally may not be as affordable.
Now Mountaineering Scotland has expressed its shock and sadness at the proposal.
Earlier this month, HLH revealed it would close the climbing wall because a new facility dedicated to the sport is set to open in the city next month.
The indoor climbing facility at Inverness Leisure Centre has been in operation for around 25 years.
But its closure will coincide with the opening of the Ledge.
Stuart Younie, Mountaineering Scotland’s CEO, said: “We are very disappointed to hear that this closure appears to be going ahead without any consultation with ourselves or the many climbers who regularly visited the leisure centre wall.
"The wall offers a very different climbing experience to the new facility at The Ledge and has been an important venue for climbers in Inverness and the surrounding area.”
Mountaineering Scotland will be contacting High Life Highland to clarify the reason for the closure and asking them to reconsider this decision, with the aim of keeping the wall open until the new roped climbing facilities at The Ledge are available.
In the event the closure does go ahead, it would like a commitment from Highland High Life that any climbing equipment is repurposed and offered other facilities to make use of.
The organisation also released the following statement: "Mountaineering Scotland was shocked and saddened to hear the announcement from High Life Highland last week about the imminent closure of the climbing wall at Inverness Leisure.
"Mountaineering Scotland has supported the development of the new indoor bouldering facility, The Ledge, as a state-of-the-art performance and bouldering venue, but we were unaware of plans by High Life Highland to close the roped climbing wall at the leisure centre.
"The Inverness Leisure climbing wall was the first large-scale facility that Mountaineering Scotland (formerly The Mountaineering Council of Scotland) was involved in. The local Inverness Climbing Club and local climbers saw the opportunity to develop the wall and Mountaineering Scotland joined discussions between the council, the local club representatives, and Inverness Leisure to ensure the design fitted with our national facilities strategy. This group worked hard to raise the funds and get the wall established, with a grant from sportscotland facilities funding.
"The wall has been a focal point for climbers across the north of Scotland, being one of only two indoor facilities in the UK to have traditional climbing protection placements to practice on and with its walls hosting the Youth Climbing Competition Series for nearly two decades. It had a thriving youth climbing club, which included the transition to climbing outdoors (RealRock) as well as the competitive scene indoors. From this sprung four local climbers that were selected into the GB Team, who competed at International Youth Competitions and International Ice Competitions."
HLH’s director of sport and leisure Douglas Wilby has said along with The Ledge, they have agreed to work together to give the new venture every chance of success.
When announcing the closure plan, he said: “Climbing wall design has moved on considerably since the Inverness Leisure wall was installed and the new facility at ‘The Ledge’ will provide all that has been possible at Inverness Leisure and more.
“The development of this brand new, specialist facility means that the time is right for High Life Highland to hand over the baton to the Ledge to ensure that neither organisation is ‘competing’ to attract customers from each other."
Click here to see the petition.
